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Petco refuses to sell feeders???

HyderHouseHerps

HyderHouseHerps

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I don't know if this is the right places for this, but I'm baffled. I went into a local Petco today to buy a lizard for one of my baby candoia to eat and they REFUSED to sell it to me because it was a feeder!
How can a store do that, when they sell frozen pinkies, mice, feeder fish, etc??? Has anyone else encountered this before? I won't shop there again, at least not at this one!
 
The national chains don't sell live "feeders" - try to buy a mouse sometime, lol. I'm not sure how they justify selling "feeder fish", when they won't sell a lizard for the same purpose (I can sort of see how they would cave to the issue of not selling warm furries as food, though I don't agree with the decision).
Then again, I don't know why you would have that discussion with them...unless you were trying to get it for cheaper because of its intended use, or you got questioned about why you kept coming in to buy small lizards.

Your best bet is to find a mom & pop shop.
 
Well I just think it's odd that they sell all albino mice and have all their rats separated by size (S, M, L) when they claim they don't sell live feeders. I've also seen an employee at this very store knowingly sell a customer 1 mouse as a feeder. He was an obvious regular and I had a brief conversation with him about herpetology.
I'm just glad I wasn't in a pinch for a feeder, or I wouldn't have been laughing and shaking my head as I walked out.
I filed a complaint for discrimination against snakes! lol
 
hhmoore said:
The national chains don't sell live "feeders" - try to buy a mouse sometime, lol. I'm not sure how they justify selling "feeder fish", when they won't sell a lizard for the same purpose (I can sort of see how they would cave to the issue of not selling warm furries as food, though I don't agree with the decision).
Then again, I don't know why you would have that discussion with them...unless you were trying to get it for cheaper because of its intended use, or you got questioned about why you kept coming in to buy small lizards.

Your best bet is to find a mom & pop shop.
Click to expand...

Petsmart won't sell live feeders, but Petco has never had a problem with it. I have bought feeders at many different Petco stores. Petsmart makes you sign an adoption contract for any rodents. :eek:
 
I thought Petco stopped sales of feeder rodents a while back....of course, I don't know WHY I thought that :shrug01:
 
I'm certain our local Petco discourages feeder sales (although they do have f/t mice, etc.) But, I don't know if it's verboten.

I may have to wonder aloud next time I'm in there...
 
The Petco here is very happy to sell feeder rodents. No paperwork for the purchase. It's going to die and they don't care.
 
Most Petco's still sell feeder rodents. The reason they would know her intentions with a small lizard, is with anything other then fish or feeder rodents, they make you fill out a form regarding the animal and such. They usually also ask basic questions about it. It is part of the employees job.

You COULD always befriend someone there.. the employee can chose to sell it to you. *shrugs* I know I sold anoles to a lady every week for that reason, but I was the only one that would, and if the boss would have found out, I would have had to "play dumb" about it. lol

As Harald said, a mom and pop shop would be your best bet.. or just ordering "feeders" online?

and Petsmart does NOT sell feeder rodents (and the one here also refuses to sell frozens).. They tried to lecture me .... .. we had some words.. ... and they werent nice :p
 
Yea you are right about petsmart. I went there one time for mice and they were $8!! I do usually order my feeders lizards online, i just have one last baby getting adjusted to pinkies and he's being stubborn this week. Won't take scented, wouln't take a f/t gecko so my next step was a live one and my last gecko got out on me the other day and I can't find it in my snake room lol. I am going to just order some more.
 
The Petco by me knowingly sells feeders. I have been in there getting mice and had kids comment on me getting pet mice. While the store employee and myself just stare at each other and say nothing, just kind of laugh. Petsmart by has been selling Artic Mice, (frozen) for a couple of years now but nothing alive as a feeder.
 
My petco sells me live feeders, but right now I'm refusing to buy feeders from them because

1) they have dirty cages and rats sometimes in obvious poor health ( I notice they try to give you the bad looking ones if you don't point out which you want)

2) the prices are way up there! I refuse to pay $5 on a small (sometimes the size of weanling rats), $7 on a medium (even these can be on the really small side), and $10 on a large rat

Paying $40 on 2 snakes a month is too much and it's not worth risking them on poor quality/ sick rodents.
 
adoption

jglass38 said:
Petsmart won't sell live feeders, but Petco has never had a problem with it. I have bought feeders at many different Petco stores. Petsmart makes you sign an adoption contract for any rodents. :eek:
Click to expand...

I signed some paper at Petsmart myself, but I did not know I was adopting the rodent. My snake did not know this either so he went ahead and ate the thing, he enjoyed the meal.

oops :rofl:

JR
 
I use to buy all my feeders from Petco, but the price was high as hell. I did not have to sign anything. I changed over to a pet store at the mall that was half the price and a lot cleaner. But now I am about to order from Monster cages. The only time I will buy from Petco again is "IF" I am in dire need.
 
i think that is stupid. my wife called petsmart a few months ago about feeders and the woman cussed at my wife and told her to go to hell and then hung up on her. i think if they are not going to sell food for snakes they need to not sell snake supplies. we already have an appointment setup with a lawyer about what happened and he is interested in what happened and the possibility of discrimination lawsuit that might come out of it. i will keep everyone posted though
 
i myself have recently bought 3 mice from petco and they guy asked me what i wanted with three. i flat out said i am starting a feeder colony for my snakes do you have a problem with that. (i was in a bad mood and his question erked me) he gave me a dirty look and proceeded to package them up. other than the dirty look and attitude they didn't say anything else. unfortunatly i have to agree that there prices are high. each mouse was $2.79 where as my local mom and pop shop was $0.50 unfortunetly they were out at the time and my snakes were hungry. i personally would suggest unless your starting a feeder colony go to your local mom and pop shop. as there mice are great for feeders but petco has better quality for starting a colony.
 
i just bought 6 mice from petco as feeders and talked to the guy selling them to me about what kind of snake was gonna eat them...ive never had an issue at Petco...you must have gotten the one hippy in the store.
 
I've had Petsmart refuse to sell me feeder rodents, and I get some dirty looks from Petco staff when I say I'd like a large number of rats--oh, no particular gender, color doesn't matter... but I need them to be this size. :p

That said, there is a specific woman at Petco who always asks me how my snakes are doing... actually, come to think of it, I believe it was she that gave me advice while I was still looking to purchase my first snake way back three years ago (she recommended that I buy elsewhere, which I am very grateful for).

But, in general, I don't buy from Petco. I've had numerous pinworm problems in the past year or so, and the only non-frozen feeders I buy are from Petco. Normally I order from the Gourmet Rodent. Only the healthy, bug-free stuff for my babies. :D
 
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